• Represented scores of wholesale energy and commodity dealers, merchants, producers and end users in CFTC, FERC and joint CFTC-FERC investigations, several of which were closed without the initiation of enforcement actions

• Negotiated many settlements with the CFTC, FERC and exchanges on behalf of energy and commodity trading companies

Acquisitions

• Represented several international financial institutions in selling their commodities businesses
• Represented the power marketing affiliate of an international financial institution in connection with the sale of its U.S. power and natural gas trading business to an affiliate of a major international oil company
• Represented J. Aron & Company/Goldman Sachs in acquiring the international commodity trading business of Constellation Energy Commodities Group, Inc.
• Represented Merrill Lynch in negotiating a complex financing and tax-equity investment commitment for the construction of a series of geothermal power plants
• Represented Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. in their acquisition of Entergy-Koch Trading, LP
• Represented Morgan Stanley in acquisitions of several portfolios of physical and financially-settled energy commodity transactions

Structured Transactions

• Represents financial institutions in structured intermediation arrangement, commodities repurchase agreements, and secured hedging transactions
• Represents Merrill Lynch in negotiating a complex financing and tax- equity investment commitment for the construction of a series of geothermal power plants
• Represents commodity suppliers and hedge providers in long-term prepaid commodity purchase and sale transactions

^{* Paul advised on these matters at his prior firm.}

Prior to entering private practice, Paul was a trial attorney in the Division of Enforcement of the CFTC, where he represented the commission in numerous civil and administrative enforcement actions.

Paul is a past chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Derivatives and Futures Law. He is a member of the Energy Bar Association, the Law & Compliance Division of the Futures Industry Association and a former adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School, where he co-taught a graduate law course on the regulation of commodity and derivatives transactions. He is a member of the Duke Law Alumni Board of Visitors.

• “To Spoof or Not to Spoof? The DOJ Answers the Question” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (January 2019)

• “The Best Defense is a Good Offense: A Practical Framework for Analyzing and Documenting Transactions and Trading Strategies to Limit Regulatory Liability” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (April 2017)

• “Non-Prosecution Agreements Are the New Black: The Latest Trend Under the CFTC’s New Enforcement Regime” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (October 2017)

• “Ground Hog Day: How Position Limits and the Dodd-Frank Act Tried to Ruin One of My All-Time Favorite Movies” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (July 2015)

• “Energy Commodities: The Netherworld Between FERC and CFTC Jurisdiction” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (March 2013)

• “Navigating the World of Renewable Energy” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (May 2009)

• “Is the FERC’s Anti-Manipulation Jurisdiction Boundless?” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (October 2007)

• “FERC’s New Anti-Manipulation Regime for Electricity and Natural Gas Transactions: Mixing Apples and Oranges” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (March 2006)

• “Cooperating with Government Investigations: ‘You Say Cooperate, I Say Cooperhate” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (January 2004)

• “Concurrent Investigations by the CFTC and the FERC Into Alleged Power and Natural Gas Price Manipulation: Who’s on First?” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (January 2003)

• “Trading Telecommodities” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (February 2001)

• “Electric Power: Managing Legal Risk in a New Commodity Market” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (April 1999)

• Favorite “Courts Decline to Use Hindsight to Find a Future” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (November 1997)

• “Judicial Inquiry Ordered into Alleged Improper Contacts Between Enforcement and the Commission” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (July/August 1997)

• “Hybrid Hedge-to-Arrive Contracts: Are They Exempt From CFTC Jurisduction?” Futures and Derivatives Law Report (October 1996)